Tag Archives: multiculturalism

Sara is a mechanical engineer, originally from Egypt, who moved to Australia over a decade ago. She has lived across various parts of Australia, and has encountered soul-crushing racism in cosmopolitan as well as regional parts of the country. Being a hijab-clad Muslim woman has made her an easy and visible target for hateful and violent behaviour.

When she had just migrated to Australia and was looking for a job, she faced several rejections despite being suitably qualified. The penny dropped when one interviewer in Melbourne confessed that he wouldn’t, or couldn’t employ her, because she wore a hijab. He added that while he was being honest, several potential employers might just brush her off with excuses, but that her headscarf was central to the rejections she received. Being unaware of anti-discrimination laws at the time, Sara let the episode pass, and shrugged it off.

She continues to face everyday racism in the form of derisive looks and comments, but a particular incident left her unable to just “move on”, as victims of racial abuse are often urged to do.

With her one-year-old daughter in her pram, Sara was walking along a street near the Westfield mall in Hornsby, Sydney. In anticipation of a council clean-up, the footpath was strewn with discarded household goods. As Sara made her way up the street, she felt her head violently yanked as a woman pulled at her hijab from behind. Caught completely off guard, Sara’s first instinct was to protect her child, and she blocked the woman’s access to her pram, screaming, “What are you doing? Are you crazy?” The woman continued to berate Sara, and picked up the handle of a discarded vacuum cleaner lying on the footpath and threatened to hurt her, saying, “I’m going to kill you.”

Hearing the commotion, a resident in a nearby block of units called the police, and came down to help Sara. As more people trickled out of their homes, the woman ran away, leaving Sara very shaken.

When the police arrived, Sara and others who had witnessed the incident made their official statements. However, despite a clear description of the woman and good leads on where she had headed, no headway was made. Not only did Sara not hear back from the police, but she also struggled with intense panic attacks and was unable to step outside her home for over a year. She has spent a lot of time looking over her shoulder, and cannot shake off the deep-seated fear that the attack instilled in her.

She insists that her hijab is very much an act of agency and choice, and she asserts that she has just as much right as anybody else to be in Australia. “I am well-accomplished, multi-lingual and a good, tax-paying citizen. Why must I leave or change? It’s time for Australians to grow up!” she says, tired of having to defend herself over her choice – to simply be herself.

The Sydney Morning Herald recently published an article about 7-Eleven workers of Indian descent continuing to being exploited, despite the outcry back when the exploitation was originally exposed in September 2015.

These immigrant workers were being paid as little as $16 to $0.43 per hour, and well below the minimum rate.

You have to congratulate the Australian Press for and not discussing the broader issue at hand i.e. racism.

Why is racism such a taboo topic to us? Australia is still marred by its own history, the period of colonisation and assimilation, which upended the First Australians and many migrants.

Much has been said and talked about the past, including former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd saying “Sorry” to the Stolen Generations of Aboriginal people. However, there is a sense of hubris here in the analogy here that once an apology to Aboriginal people, forever no more racism in Australia altogether.

The reality is very different.

Today the country now has over 40 different ethnic racial groups living inside our borders and roughly 1 in 5 Australians have experienced racism in their lives.

Enter Malcolm Turnbull, the Prime Minister who claims to be right-progressive. For the incumbent PM I have one of my own policies: vouch for a multicultural (and intercultural) Australia.

The aforementioned Cultural Diversity Future Fund will be two-pronged: Firstly research into contemporary ethnic and racial issues for 22nd century Australia. And secondly, commercialising these ideas through the creation of a multicultural, intercultural Australia, which defines people based on talent, or contribution to the economy, instead of ethnicity.

Australia is a country where people from very different cultural, ethnic and national backgrounds live together, build a common future and improve their society. National coherence has become one of the key goals of multiculturalism in Australia.Given this environment, why is it that people from certain ethnic and cultural backgrounds are less represented in mass media than people from other ethnic backgrounds? This state of affairs sometimes raises curiosity about the underrepresented groups, but more often it leads to indifference to their needs, prejudice, and uncertainty about them in the cultural and social sphere.

There are several ethnic groups in Australia which rarely appear in the media. And among them are Russiansin Australia. At the present time there are so many articles and talk shows about Russian international politics, but we never hear voices of everyday people from a Russian background who live on the same street with us, go to the same shops, work and study with us. Why did they come to Australia? Which place in Australian society is occupied by new Australians with Russian roots?

It is important to note that the wave of Russian immigration from the transitional Russia of the 90s, who witnessed the period of crisis and restructuring of the economy after the collapse of the Soviet Union, hasve adopted a particular trait to rely only on themselves. It shapes the image of Russians in general as a resilient nation with mentally and physically strong representatives. Such self-sufficiency in making decisions and building one’s own life makes young people from a Russian background, first, devoid of illusions that life is an endless fairy tale where everything is always smooth, and second, the experience of growing up in the new Russia teaches them to rely on their own strength and to look for flexible ways out of difficult or stressful situations.

Many stories of success of Russian immigrants in Australia started with hard work, openness to change and self-belief. Unfortunately, the flip side of this particular mindset is the difficulty in building group relationships between different generations of Russian immigrants and as a result, there is no solid Russian community, which on behalf of the group would help Russian immigrants in Australia to address domestic issues, organise events with Russian cultural flavor and present itself as a group with a common cultural identity.

I talked to three young Russian Australians. Let me shortly introduce our heroes. Bogdan, Natalia and Olga have the same background: they came from the new post-soviet Russia.

Bogdan

Bogdan represents the newest generation of Russian immigrants. He is still in the process of immigration to Australia. In his past Bogdan graduated from the college in England, lived in Russia, England and the Czech Republic and then decided to try Australia, where he was able to study for a Bachelor of Business, Management and Finance at Bond University.

Bogdan thinks that business education is very practical and reality-oriented in Australia. Therefore it maintains a high standard and prepares students to start their professional life on a relatively high level right after graduation from the university.

In addition to his studies at Bond University Bogdan periodically participates in different socially-oriented initiatives. For example, as a volunteer, he helped to organisze a charity race at his university to raise funds for the Heart Foundation. This organization funds life-saving heart research, and works to improve heart disease prevention and care for all Australians. Currently Bogdan helps with the creation of business plans for the organisation, which aims to help people with mental illness so that they had the opportunity to start a business.

Thinking about the future, Bogdan, like many young representatives of his generation, who came from Russia to build a better life in Australia, knows exactly what he wants: to gain financial independence and build a career in order to be able to help his loved ones in Russia. Setting goals and striving for success, he does it for the sake of others, and, is willing to work hard and benefit Australia. Like all young people who have left their home country chasing a dream, he has a plan for the future.

Bogdan: “The main goal is, of course, to begin to build a career, because there is a responsibility for the family, responsibility for myself, and responsibility to build a financial fundament for the future of me, my parents and future family. Plus I’m determined to help my family.”

Natalia

Natalia first come to Australia in 2000. Before immigrating, she studied in England. During her life in Australia Natalia transited to the Australian environment, graduated from the university, took part in social initiatives, and found a job. Currently she is the Chief Executive Officer position of a membership-based organisation in the health sector.

Now Natalia feels more Australian than Russian, however, the strength and resilience which formed the core of her personality during the childhood in Russia help her in life here.

Natalia came to Australia to work hard and do well and found out that this really works in Australia. She was very determined to be successful in life and didn’t let herself relax as much as others could. She thinks being from Russia was a real advantage, because of her strict past in the soviet-model school environment where children learn to be street-smart.

Natalia: “When you experience moving from one country to another one, you need all your smarts to adjust in the place you are. When you first come and don’t know anyone you are trying to meet people and to understand what to do. That makes you very strong, but also quite flexible. You don’t have to be a rock, you become like a river. And you learn quickly under pressure, you just flow over obstacles.”

Natalia also believes that it is important to contribute to the society in which she lives. For 6 years she was on the Management Committee for NSW at Australians of Native Title and Reconciliation. This is a civic organization that supports the rights of Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders within Australian society. Natalia organised a Parliamentary Greeting Event for Aboriginal people in the New South Wales Parliament and hoeld responsibilities of a treasurer for this organisation.

Natalia: “I believe that issues experienced by Aboriginal people in Australia are severe and unjust. I think as an immigrant to this country I don’t have to be blinded by some episodes of the history by which some Australians have been blinded. Because of growing up in this country they cannot see the injustice that is still faced by Aboriginal people. But I didn’t grow up with it and these problems are obvious to me. I think that it is important to volunteer on issues that are close to your heart if you are going to contribute to the country in which you live. And for me it’s a social injustice and issues of human rights.”

Olga

Olga moved to Australia 5 years ago charmed by this unique and distant country during her studies in English

school. Coming through different stages of immigration, Olga has realized the uniqueness of her Russian cultural identity and opened “IZBA Russian Treats” which is a Russian-flavored bakery located in Sydney. Through theis business Olga opened the channel to Russian cuisine and culture for Australians who wants to try something new and start discovering a distant Russia.

Olga believes that all barriers are in your mind. If you really want to achieve something, all is in your hands. Australia contains a lot of opportunities and it is very important to step across your fears and start trying something.

Olga: “Our generation grew up in the country where life wasn’t easy at that time. We came through the disintegration of the Soviet Union, crisis in all spheres of life in 90s, restructuring of Russia…It is fair enough to say that we’ve seen a lot of restless times. And I think that this gave us a more realistic view of life. We can easier adjust to different situations. I mean, we are able to respond more flexibly to certain things, to get used to any kind of situations. Maybe, because of this side of Russian mentality we are stronger in difficulties. Additionally, Russian culture exists for many centuries and that influences our perceptions of reality, that gives us a bigger perspective. I feel that all expats from Russia and former Soviet Union have this advantage of great and long-standing Russian culture which gives them a specific perspective of life.”

Relying on themselves and inspiring others by their own example, the founders of “IZBA Russian Treats” help schools in their business district, act actively as representatives of small businesses on different professional forums and promote Russian culture supporting such cultural initiatives like Russian Film Festival.

Being Russian as well, I personally share the idea of our heroes that we have to be persistent and goal-oriented in our work, be open to new ideas and cultures and help the society where we live to become a better place. As one of my interlocutors noticed, from whatever background a person is, there are always some strengths from the culture that you have. Only through acceptance of yourself and your background, acceptance and understanding of other cultures, do you have a chance to live harmoniously in multicultural Australia.

Australia’s acknowledgement of racism has grown considerably, since Adam Goodes was Australian of the Year (2014). This could be largely due to the fact that his cause was anti-racism. The Racism. It Stops With Me. campaign was launched soon after. Over 250 organisations joined the anti-racism campaign, which promoted racial equality (including All Together Now). It seemed that Australia was finally ready to kick racism out of the country once and for all. However, it seemed in 2015, Australia once again took a step back as it questioned incidents of racism as actually being racist or not. The questioning of an incident being racist or not was seen most prominently during the booing bullying of AFL player Adam Goodes. People in the media questioned the validity of the incessant and constant targeted bullying, of this particular player, as being racist or not. It was undoubtedly fueled by racism, as the ‘issue’ that had people begin the booing of Goodes occurred after he displayed (during the Indigenous Round of AFL) an Indigenous symbol to the crowd as a victory showcase after scoring a goal. Idiotic though it may seem, racism is often just so.

We’d like to take the time to add to the discussion on Goodes, that being ‘politically correct’ is giving respect. It is the correct way to act. Denying respect includes denying racism. Or, as Marlon James put it, “most of us are non-racists” and are content to be so: “I won’t, I don’t, I’ve never” are not statements that change those individuals, groups or institutions that are prejudice, bigoted and racist. This ‘non-racism’ occurs when you know something is racist but by doing nothing it does not stop it from occurring. The question the comes to: How do we make active people trying to end racism?

We make active people trying to end racism by giving them knowledge of how it acts, interacts and attacks society and individuals ability to succeed, be unified and progress.

Non-racism along with racism denial are two important factors in the continuing of racism in Australia and internationally. So, here is a reminder of what racism denial looks like:

Kylie O’Reilly is the Managing Director of the Agency Division for Australian Associated Press (AAP), the national news agency of Australia. Kylie has over 15 years’ experience in the media industry and holds an MBA from the University of Technology Sydney.

Kylie has been the Chairperson of All Together Now for some years, helping to lead the organisation through to some great achievements.

We now interview her about her role in the organisation, her passions and goals before she heads off to run in the Blackmores Sydney Running Festival, this Sunday 20th September, 2015.

All Together Now: You can be a role model of modern woman. Many girls in Australia can take you as an example, how to be successful in life. Can you tell me what story is hidden behind your decision to refocus from Managing Director at AD AAP to the role of a chairperson in not-for-profit organization? Why did you choose anti-racism focus?

Kylie O’Reilly: Firstly, the reason, why I chose to contribute my time as a chairperson to All Together Now, was because I want to do something to make a difference. So, for me was important to be sure, that I can contribute my skills into their work, make a difference into the community. But the most important driver was an ability to participate. My previous experience was very much commercial and corporate, and it’s great, it’s nice to help businesses to make money and to employ people. But, when it gets down to having children and to be a part of a family and a community, I realized that I want to see my children living in a better place. That’s why I chose All Together Now. And I thought, that one of these topics (racism) would be committed to, because it is a hard work, [and] it is not an easy thing to be part of it. It’s not one of the topics, which everyone would easily contribute to, such as animals’ rights, cancer or children, – it is much tougher. As for me, I like challenges and being able to contribute to the good.

ATN: Kylie, if you could compare from the perspective of racial discrimination Australia of your childhood and Australia today, what differences can you list?

Kylie O’Reilly: I think, nowadays we are much more aware. There are two major things. First of all, when I grew up it was a very white Australia, where I was. Australia wasn’t so multicultural. I spent my childhood on the Northern beaches of Sydney and it was a very Anglo-Saxon place. Now, when we are near the beaches it is much more multicultural. I can see that children integrate much more in classes. They ask questions about different religions, different customs and many other things. As a child, I didn’t have any of that. So, I see differences in all of these things that were changed since the time of 30 years ago till now.

I would say that modern Australia is much more integrated. People are more aware now about dangers of racial discrimination. I don’t think that 30 years ago we did understand the impact of racial discrimination, how is it felt like to be an excluded outsider to someone new to the country. Nowadays we are totally aware how harmful that is. So, I think, Australia became very different in that sense.

ATN: As a mother, how do you explain and will explain multicultural differences and diversity to your children? Is it possible to erase racism from Australian society in future, educating a new generation today?

Kylie O’Reilly: Yes, I believe so. I have always believed that it’s possible, because I believe in the strength of acceptance and love. So, for me, why would not I accept everybody’s differences, we are all similar human beings with a heart and a brain…You know, it’s just because you look differently and speak differently to me, it doesn’t mean that we are that different from each other. All these differences are things which need to be celebrated. So, as for me, I will teach my children about it: differences make us unique, there are many things that we should celebrate and be curious about, [and] learn more about. All these things make the world so interesting, [like] when we are travelling, doesn’t it? We get to learn about different cultures and different places, we can learn different things and taste different food and we can immerse ourselves [in] something completely unknown.

ATN: Apart from being a chairperson of All Together Now how do you oppose racism in everyday life?

Kylie O’Reilly: I would say that the first level of racism, that I would see, is joke. People are making jokes. What they think is a joke in the reality is a statement. Basically, it is framing of our culture into a joke. So, for me, I would say that joke is a way of framing the culture. I don’t think that it is much more diverse in that. In everyday living we can frequently hear jokes about Asian drivers or…you know, when people say those kinds of things. To me that is a crazy talk, because I am not my one culture, you are not your one culture. Same as it doesn’t mean that I am a great driver or a bad driver, just because I am a female. For me this is much more complicated now. So, in everyday life racism usually appears in those kinds of comments and inappropriate jokes. Me as a person would stand up and say something about that. And I would try to educate people, why that’s not appropriate.

ATN: It is great to hear you are so active Kylie. Thank you for having this attitude. .

Kylie O’Reilly: It’s the way to be, isn’t it?

ATN: This shows the strength of your character. Not everyone is brave enough to speak up and be opposite to racism.

Kylie O’Reilly: I think, what you can do is to deliver your thoughts through the humor. It doesn’t have to be controversial. It doesn’t have to become confrontational. If I’ll deliver it with actual curiosity and humor, when I say to you: “Why do you say that”? It is not threatening, isn’t it? So, if I can deliver it in non-threatening way, sometimes it can be educational. I think this is what people struggle with sometimes: how to communicate to another person if anything is inappropriate.

ATN: How do you see Australia in 20 years?

Kylie O’Reilly: My vision for Australia in 20 years would be that it’s much more embracing and has different cultural identities. It gets down to a couple of values instead of identities. I would like to think that my children will have multiple kinds of friends of different color, different races and different backgrounds and that’s generally accepted as we become more global. So, that’s what I would like to see in the future. I don’t want to see an Australia where everything is only Anglo and white. In this case we would be very limited and especially in terms of Australian values. So, for me diversity is the way to go.

ATN: Could you, please, share your plans for the future? What projects do you want to realize?

Kylie O’Reilly: Well, my job as a chairperson is to help forming a strategy together with the managing director and a board. Talking on behalf of the board, we are very committed to educating and standing up against racism through education. So, I am very excited about the projects that are useful for children and for teachers. I can comment that they are really great projects to be involved in, because putting yourself in the shoes of somebody else can educate you more as it is like to be a victim of racism. And once you have some empathy to that situation, it helps you to understand more, you are even able to curiously challenge people on their views. So, as for me, I love that project.

I also like how we are associated with sport. It is important, because there is a lot of racism in sport. Sport is a one avenue where people can really embrace each other and come together with the common goal of going to their teams. And I think that to be a part of this and to generate an awareness of All Together Now is really important.

So, our projects are connected with everything that can be put on a plate for educating and helping people to stand up against racism. As an example, we created educational mobile application. And on the other side we would like to associate with sport.

All Together Now aims to prevent racism by promoting racial equality through education. We are Australia's only national charity dedicated to preventing all forms of racism in Australia.

ABN: 74 144 510 556

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PEOPLE REVIEWS

H

aving experienced the negative effects of racism before, I found great value in aligning myself with an organization that has its prevention as a top priority.

Andy Minh Trieu

SBS Pop Asia,

T

here is no place for racism in Australian football or the broader community and that is something I’m really passionate about.

Bruce Djite

Adelaide United Striker,

H

aving experienced the negative effects of racism before I found great value in aligning myself with an organization that has its prevention as a top priority. Through promoting and participating in All Together Now initiatives I have found the conversation of racism has spread through my networks. My friends that Identify with the issue are now more open to speak out about it.